The emphasis we’ve all seen in recent years on healthy eating options for people has raised many people’s awareness of what they have been consuming over the years. Redefined Foods in City Marketplace has taken the concept of healthy eating and managed to create a number of interesting menu items that will make you forget you’re eating healthier food.
This is because, unlike many “health food” oulets, either retail or dining, their food also tastes great. I know, from personal experience, what it was to try to find vegetarian food in Chicago in the mid-80s. It wasn’t easy there because everyting is beef, pork and sausage for the most part.
The point is, the food wasn’t good, there wasn’t a lot of flavor to it, there were hardly any choices and it was relatively expensive. That’s why what Redefined Foods has managed to do is worth checking out. There’s real falvor and they use ingredients that are both fresh and flavorful.
They say that necessity is the mother of invention and that applies to Joey Soltes, the chef here, who runs the business with his mother Jodee. When Joey was diagnosed with an intestinal disorder it was imperative for him to find a way to eat healthy foods all the time.
He became a chef and took control of his daily menu and opened a restaurant where he could offer the same healthy food to customers.
Joey and Jodee have done some interesting things here and offer their customers a wide variety of foods to choose from. First, they offer a five-day meal prep plan with a different menu each week. Their website has the weekly menus on it and they extend for severalweeks in advance.
A recent weekly menu contained, for example, Chzy Quinoa Stuffed Peppers, Chicken Parm, Blackened Mahi, Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese and Honey Sriracha Turkey Meatballs.
This is a very popular program for people who want to eat healthy but don’t have the time to cook a lot. These meals must be ordered in advance and picked up at the restaurant. When you visit the restaurant there’s also a good selection of foods that you can order there to eat on premise or take away. They also have delivery options.
You can get what they call a Buddha Bowl, for example, which allows you to create your own healthy bowl of salad-type ingredients. There are a number of juice options and combinations and these can also be used to go on a juice diet for a day or longer.
There are plenty of baked items including cupcakes, cherry cobbler and cookies among many others.
And there’s a good selection of smoothie ingredients and toppings for them to make smoothies or use a base, or for one of the bowls.
And Joey’s latest wrinkle is serving gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches and tacos on Monday to Wednesday nights from 5-8 PM. This has already proved to be very popular. Joey jokes that this night-time menu is the unhealthy one although the ingredients in the whole restaurant are always gluten-free and low fat. Feeling hungry? Stay healthy and go to Redefined Foods.
Redefined Foods, City Marketplace, 160 Cypress Point Pkwy, 386-627-8885
